Thursday, July 19

Sonics Win! Petro scores 20! Pigs fly!

Centers Johan Petro and Mouhamed Sene, first-round selections by the Sonics in 2005 and 2006, respectively, started together and had their best games of the summer to lead the Sonics to victory. The combination, which played 57 minutes together all of 2006-07, totaled 35 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks. The Sonics also got 22 points apiece from No. 5 overall pick Jeff Green and rookie free agent Quinton Hosley in their best offensive effort of the summer.

It was Hosley, undrafted out of Fresno State before joining the Sonics for the Revue, who got the team off to a fast start. He scored 14 points in the first quarter as the Sonics built an early nine-point lead and took a four-point advantage after one quarter. They never trailed, but the Bulls rallied to make things interesting before the Sonics made the key plays down the stretch to earn the victory.

12 comments:

Brandon
said...

Man, I was at that game and it was surreal seeing Mo actually dunking with authority and him and Petro posting and finishing. I also had a chat with Sam Presti in the hallway at halftime and he assured me that the Sonics were trying their best to stay in Seattle, and he said they're still contemplating the PG situation. And as for the quick start, it was definitely all Green (the Green Monster?) He scored 8 points in the first 90 seconds of the game. And Hosley was a beast, he was tearing through the Bulls the whole game. One final note: Swift was on the bench in jeans and a light blue polo shirt, which my wife informed me "clashed bad with his bright red ponytail and tats", but I can't wait to see his progress on the court.

Man, I would have killed to been able to pursue that conversation further. Thanks for the info, Brandon, much appreciated. Glad to hear that Presti is actively trying to resolve the PG spot, because regardless of whether you think Watson or Ridnour is the right answer, we all agree that keeping both of them is definitely not.

Yeah, I caught that. I thought "Durancula" would be a stretch. Mine is more of a hybrid nickname, like how Count Chocula combines the fearsome vampire of lore and the delicious sweetness of fake chocolate. Also, Dracula is more of a bad-ass than something you can just step on. And I want to see Durant dunk with a cape on.

Yeah I hear you man, but I'm thinkin' one of those Amazon jungle bird eating Tarantulas, that are like a foot in diameter and jump out of trees onto birds in flight. Those are badass, I don't think I'd try steppin' on one of those.

Yeah, Presti assured me the point guard position would be resolved soon. I jokingly asked if he was making a huge trade deal because he was on his Blackberry before I caught him, and he just laughed and said "There's a good possibility". Maybe he was trading for Kurt Thomas?

How did Hosley look? From the game reports it looks fantastic, but were his points all scored in the paint? I don't know much about his range as a shooter, and since his best fit on this team is as a SG, I'd be curious to know if he was hitting jumpers, or only transition points.

Hosley looked amazing, but you're right, most of his points were in the paint. He a had a sick tip-in and flew through the lane for a dunk put back over the entire Bulls team. He also had a few drives for layups. I don't think he put up a single trey, but he did make a short range jumper or 2. So he didn't show any kind of jump shooting range but he definitely got the job done in the paint. I also noticed that Green made a few smart plays, one in which the shot clock was winding down so he pumped faked and got his man in the air and then got fouled shooting a 3 right at the buzzer. Hopefully those types of plays will give him an edge over ordinary rookies.

I noticed on two occasions in Vegas that Green was heady with the shot-clock, getting off shots just before the buzzer, but not in a panicky, everyone shouting at him to gun it sort of way, but in a calm, okay I've got 4 seconds, so I better get this thing going sort of way. If that makes any sense.

The guy is just a winner. All that crap that white sportswriters usually use about white players - smart, hustle, hard-working, coachable - you can apply it Jeff Green, and I mean that as a compliment. He just seems like the kind of guy who is intelligent and athletic at the same time. The kind of person who you only have to tell something once, because he listens and absorbs. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit for only a few minutes of summer league action, but I am totally impressed with Jeff Green so far.